WCU student admits to charges in fatal DUI crash

WEST CHESTER — A Montgomery County woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to criminal charges stemming from an automobile crash on Route 202 that left a Delaware man dead just days before Christmas.

But those charges did not include a count of homicide by vehicle, the prosecutor handling the case said, because there was insufficient evidence that either her marijuana use in the days prior to the crash or her distracted driving played a significant enough role in the crash.

Shannon T. Brouse, 21, of Hatfield, entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and three summary traffic code violations before Common Pleas Judge David Bortner, as members of the family of the man who died in the crash looked on.

Assistant District Attorney Max O’Keefe, who is handling the prosecution, told Bortner that an expert witness used by his office in such cases had concluded that the amount of marijuana in Brouse’s system at the time could not be shown beyond a reasonable doubt to have impaired her to the extent to cause the crash.

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In addition, O’Keefe told Bortner that an accident reconstruction did not show that Brouse was driving negligently or recklessly enough at the time of the crash to justify homicide charges, even though she admitted that her speed was about 70 miles per hour at the time and she was charged with careless driving.

Nevertheless, O’Keefe said his office would ask Bortner to sentence Brouse to the maximum penalty allowable by law for the charges she pleaded to — three to six months in county prison. The mandatory minimum for the DUI charge is 72 hours in jail.

Michael W. Arnott, a 54-year-old master carpenter who specialized in home improvement projects and was known affectionately as “Wild Bill” by his friends and fellow boating enthusiasts, died at Paoli Hospital hours after the crash of multiple injuries he suffered, according to police reports. He had been ejected from his pickup truck after it collided with the SUV Brouse was driving.

Brouse, a West Chester University student who told officers at the time of the crash that she was driving home to Hatfield, said little during the brief hearing before Bortner, other than to answers questions about her guilty plea. A first-time offender, she will be sentenced at a later date after the completion of a pre-sentencing report.

“I will know a lot more about your personal background and other relevant facts after the report is done,” Bortner told Brouse, who was accompanied to court by her parents and her attorney, Robert E.J. Curran of Media. “For you, it is a first offense, and I sincerely hope it is your final offense.”

According to O’Keefe’s description of the events surrounding the crash and the arrest affidavit prepared by West Whiteland Officer Jeffrey McCloskey, the crash occurred about 10:21 a.m. on Dec. 23 between the Boot Road and Route 30 exits of Route 202.

Brouse, driving a Mercury Mountaineer SUV, and Arnott, driving a Dodge Ram pickup, were broth traveling north. A witness said the Mountaineer was passing the Dodge in the left lane when it veered out of control.

Brouse later told police that she was distracted by something, possibly the radio, and that her car swerved off the highway into the grass median. When she tried to turn back onto the road, she overcorrected, lost control and collided with Arnott’s pickup, which was on her right.

Police said Brouse’s SUV then flipped over several times, coming to rest in the southbound lanes of the highway. Arnott was thrown from the pickup and was found lying on the highway shoulder, unconscious and bleeding from the head. He was taken to Paoli Hospital by ambulance, and was pronounced dead about 2 p.m.

Brouse suffered only moderate injuries in the crash. An officer who spoke with Brouse as she was sitting near her car after the crash said he spotted cigarette rolling papers in her purse when she went to get her driver’s license. Detective Scott Pezick, when interviewing her at the scene, said she told him that she had smoked marijuana three days before the crash. At the hospital, when blood was being drawn from her for testing, she wondered aloud what would happen, “if I smoked a lot of marijuana.”

A test of her blood showed that Brouse had 9 nanograms of the marijuana metabolite in her blood at the time of the crash. Under state law, anyone with the presence of any amount of marijuana metabolite in their blood is guilty of driving under the influence of a controlled substance.

Bortner said he would likely schedule formal sentencing for Brouse in early December.